Ian Snell made the start for Puerto Rico tonight in San Juan against the Netherlands with an automatic second round berth at stake. When the schedules were made, it appeared Snell would be slated to face the stacked Dominican club, but they of course lost to the upstart Dutch on Saturday.

Snell came out strong in a party-type atmosphere in Hiram Bithorn Stadium, and he went 1-2-3 in the first with 2 K’s. He allowed a run in the second, mostly thanks to a misjudged fly ball by Bernie Williams. He was solid in the third and fourth, striking guys out with sliders breaking sharply away from the zone and inducing quick outs.

Ian’s final line: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 50 pitches (35 of them strikes). Not too shabby, even against what was essentially a squad of minor league hitters.

However, the Dutch still led 1-0 when Snell left the game, and despite stars in the lineup such as Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, and Alex Rios, Puerto Rico could not score a run. They even had big Pirate free agent signee Ramon Vazquez hitting second!

Finally, following inning after inning of blown opportunites (including a Vazquez popup with 1 out and bases loaded), Yadier Molina delivered the go ahead hit in the 8th to put PR out in front and into the second round for good. Oh, and it made sure Snell would not get tagged with the loss against the Netherlands.